The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association gave North Bergen High School a slap on the wrist in a strongly worded report that concluded the school recruited two football players.

The NJSIAA placed the school on probation for two years, but stopped short of stripping the school of its stunning state championship victory over Montclair in December. The victory appeared to be the storybook ending to the coaching career of Vincent Ascolese, one of the state's all-time winningest coaches.

Earlier in the season Ascolese announced he would retire at the end of the year, and perhaps that helped the school to retain its championship. How could the state really could punish the school if the coach, who also retired as an assistant superintendent after the season, was walking away scot-free?

North Bergen school officials were happy with the decision, even though they had contended all along that the the two players were not recruited.

The state athletic organization interviewed more than a dozen people in their investigation, and concluded that the two students in questions received special benefits by living in a two-family home owned by the head coach. The state further found that school officials either knew, or should have known, that one of the students was living alone one of the two apartments.

The perfect end to Ascolese's career began to fall apart when one of the players went to the press complaining that as soon as the season ended, the head coach attempted to evict him from the apartment. The Star-Ledger story on the players' living arrangements sparked the state investigation.